Slide Show Notes for Sample:
To use - print out these notes first and then play the slide show on your computer.
Look at each slide on the screen, and then read the notes accompanying each slide.
Slide 1
Welcome to your sample from the short course on Early Rome. The full course lasts for approximately 10 hours worth of study. At least four hours of which will be in slide show/note format.
You should have read through your study guide by now, and have some idea of the influence of the Etruscans on the early Romans. This presentation will build on your reading and, hopefully, clarify some of the ideas you’ll have found in your study guide.
Take a moment to study the map in front of you. This gives you some idea of how closely Rome nestled against her neighbours. It will also gives you some idea of the size of Etruria’s domains.
Rome looks so tiny on this map, doesn’t it? It’s hard to imagine this small city-state moving outwards through the Italic Peninsular to eventually become, perhaps, the greatest power the World has ever seen.
Next slide.
Slide 2:
Rome’s distant Past can be traced back to the Bronze Age, around 1200 BC. In those days Roma, herself, didn’t exist.
What did exist was a boggy, marshy flat piece of land surrounded by seven hills. The boggy land was eventually drained and became the world famous Forum, but before this it was used as an ancient burial site. Perhaps each of the different tribes inhabiting the seven hills used the site?
The picture on this slide is actually of an Etruscan burial site at Cerveteri. Etruscan tombs mirrored early Etruscan houses, and so it’s safe to assume our early ‘Romans’ lived in structures similar to these. In fact, evidence of structures like these has been found on the Palatine Hill.
The Palatine Hill, which gives us our word ‘palace’, appears to have the been the site for the earliest inhabitants, and thus, is linked with Rome’s mythical founder, Romulus.
Eventually, the farmers of the Palatine and Esquiline Hills joined together and made the first village. The traditional date for this is 753 BC.
That cattle farming was a major occupation can be seen in the meaning of the name ‘Italia’ – it means ‘calf-land’.
Next slide.
Slide 3:
This slide shows you the position of the Seven Hills. You can see the Forum in the middle and various roads leading from it. The Campus Martius is the great Field of Mars where troops mustered and later trained.
Next slide.
Slide 4:
Who were the Etruscans? There is much controversy about this. The fifth-century historian, Herodotus, known to us as ‘The Father of History’, believed the Etruscans to be Lydians forced to migrate from their homes because of famine.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus saw the Etruscans as an ancient indigenous people, and of course, the court historian Livy believed the Etruscans were from the North.
Today it’s believed that folks from the area we call Greece moved into the Italic peninsular and intermingled with the ancient indigenous population.
Personally, I think Etruria might have been a settling ground for the Mycenaeans of Crete. In 1200 BC a volcanic catastrophe rocked the Mediterranean World, and Crete was destroyed. The reason I think these folks might have settled in Etruria is because of the huge similarity between Etruscan and Cretan art. Not just in designs, but also in use of colour…but that’s in the content of another one of my courses!
Next slide
Slide 5:
Etruscan names:
No Etruscan literature actually survives. However, from the writings that do survive it appears that the Etruscans did use first names.
The first name is called the praenomen and although Romans had these, they didn’t use them very much. For example Julius Caesar’s first name was Caius, and it was traditional for Roman males in one clan to all have the same first name.
A patronymic is, of course, the father’s name, a surname. In Ancient Rome the second name of a citizen was his nomen. The nomen is the clan, or gens, name. For example, Julius Caesar belonged to the Julian clan. All his clan members had this name in their names!
All women in the Julian clan had the name Julia in their name. If Julius Caesar had had two daughters instead of one – they’d have both been called Julia! One might have been called Julilla, or little Julia, to distinguish her – or she might have been given a nickname.
Nicknames are called Cognomens – third names. Caius Julius’ third name was ‘Caesar’ and this meant ‘hairy one’…a bit ironic given that the Divine Julius lost all his hair very early on and was acutely conscious of his balding pate.
Something unique to Etruscan women was the use of individual matronymics or mother’s names – and they were very different from Roman ones…look at Culni, Ati, Ramtha in slide 5! These names sounded quite outlandish to Roman ears.
The Terracotta tomb sculpture of the husband and wife you can see on this slide is from the 6th Century BC and comes from the Cerveteri tomb complex.
Next slide.
Slide 6:
You’ve already met the points raised on this slide in your study guide. However, the image you can see is of the fasces. Notice the axe tied to the reeds. Lictors carried the fasces over their shoulders, and they used them to clear a way through crowds for their magistrates. They also whacked people with them!
Next slide
Slide 7:
Etruscan Officials
Very many of the magistracies used by the Etruscans were adopted by the Early Romans. You’ll have already seen the magistrates toga mentioned in your study guide.
The Lictors were the bully-boys of early Rome. Livy says the Etruscans originally had 12 Lictors to represent the 12 city-states in the Etruscan confederation.
If you look at the coin of Regulus in front of you, you’ll see the image of the curule chair. The curule chair was the folding ‘throne’ of state. Roman consuls inherited this from the Etruscan kings, and later it became the ‘throne’ of the Emperor. The fasces stand on either side of the curule chair.
Next slide
Slide 8
Etruscan Religion
Religion dominated the lives of the Etruscans and early Romans. Their world was a world full of symbolism and magic. The gods were active in every area of their lives. Indeed, the Etruscans, like the Ancient Egyptians, made a fine art of religious practices. Some of these they passed to the Romans – especially their strict, and often blood-soaked, rituals.
The Etruscans had books of religious, magical lore, and they had many priests to interpret it. The books were called the Disciplina Etrusca.
The haruspex examined the liver, and other entrails, and from them told the future. Originally a Babylonian practice it was to become embedded into Etruscan ritual and thus into Roman.
The fugurales told the future from lightening, and Rome’s own diviners, the augurs, read omens and portents in the flights of birds
Next slide
Slide 9
The little statue in this slide is of a haruspex. This chap divined the future from the entrails of animals. Notice his strange pointed cap, and the odd ornamentation around his neck and shoulders – are these symbolic of the entrails our haruspex studied so thoroughly?
Next slide.
Slide 10:
The Piacenza Liver. Made out of Bronze from perhaps the 2nd Century BC. It’s thought to have be a teaching model for would-be diviners.
The writing is Etruscan.
If you turn to the Internet and type in Piacenza Liver you will find numerous sites purporting to have translated this early magical ‘school’ model.
Next slide.
Slide 11:
I’ve said that it is probable that Etruscan tombs mirrored the houses in which they lived. Look at the example on slide 11 from the Tomb of the Baron, in Tarquinia. The whole layout of this’ bedroom of the dead’ resembles nothing quite so much as the Roman cubiculum, bedroom, you’ll see on the next slide.
Notice how the bodies lie on couches, and the walls are decorated with scenes from everyday life and mythology. Pots and other articles of every day use are also in the room.
Next slide.
Last slide:
I’m sure you’ll see the similarity between this cubiculum and the tomb on slide 11? This can be seen as yet another example of Etruria’s influence on our early Romans.
This is the end of your sample.
This has been just a short insight into how Rome was influenced by her Etruscan neighbour. For more of this, and more information on the formation of Early Rome – do try the full course.
Now return to your study guide and try the self-assessment questions.
2 Copyright: Fran Andel at Lessons of History. Sample course.